"A glimmer of hope" is how one Israeli official described his country's agreement to ease its crippling military restrictions on the Palestinians in exchange for a crackdown on militants.

He did not call it a breakthrough. Even among officials, scepticism over the deal runs deep - on both sides.

All the main Palestinian factions except Yasser
Arafat's Fatah faction have already denounced the
partial deal as a sell-out that will only prolong the
Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

The militant groups, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad have both
said they won't call off their "resistance".

So what led to the security deal, after several months
in which Israelis and Palestinians were unable to
agree on anything?

Under pressure

One key factor is American pressure.

Palestinians say the success of the deal depends on Israel withdrawing

As the United States debates a possible attack on Iraq, it wants to
calm the Israeli-Palestinian conflict which is now
approaching the beginning of its third year.

That may well explain why the Israeli leader, Ariel
Sharon, went along with the plan initiated by his
defence minister, Binyamin Ben Eliezer, the chairman
of the Labour party.

Mr Ben Eliezer has his own reasons for wanting a deal,
as he heads towards elections for the leadership of
the Labour party in November.

His ratings have
slid dramatically over the past few months, with many
Labour members questioning the role their party is
playing in the Mr Sharon's coalition government.

As for the Palestinians, their bargaining position is
weak, with their leader Yasser Arafat now fighting for his
political survival as the Americans press for a change
of Palestinian leadership.

"The Palestinian leadership can't afford to be held
responsible for jeopardising any initiative, no matter
how little it offers the Palestinians," says Ziad Abu
Amr, a Gaza-based member of the Palestinian
Legislative Council.

"The risk is that they'll be
blamed when it fails."

Little faith

The Palestinian Authority has no illusions about the difficulties it will face in implementing a piecemeal
deal that so many Palestinian factions oppose.

"The
problematic aspect of this agreement is that it is
partial," says Ghassan Khattib, the Palestinian
minister of Labour.

"The future and the possibilities
of success with this agreement depend on whether
Israel is going to continue pulling out from the rest
of the Palestinian territories and put an end to the
closure and the assassination policy."

Any more Israeli killings of Palestinian militants or Palestinian suicide bombings could easily blow the
latest agreement off course.

Few people on either
side seem to believe an end to the bloodshed is really
in sight.